Over 20 leading companies "withdraw": How Much Core Chemical Production Capacity in Europe Shut Down in 2024-2025?

Recently, the global chemical giant BASF officially announced that it has successfully sold its stake in Wintershall Dea's exploration and production (E&P) business to Harbour Energy. As a core shareholder of Wintershall Dea, BASF previously held 72.7% of the company's shares. It is disclosed that the transaction is expected to impact approximately 800 jobs.

Since 2022, BASF has launched a structural adjustment plan centered on the core objective of "cost reduction and efficiency enhancement." Specific measures include optimizing production costs in Europe and adjusting the production structure of the Ludwigshafen site in Germany. At the Q2 2025 financial results conference, BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller made it clear that the possibility of further shutting down more production facilities at the Ludwigshafen site in the future cannot be ruled out.

Notably, BASF's capacity adjustment is not an isolated case. Recently, more than 20 leading global chemical companies have successively announced capacity adjustment plans, with a cumulative shutdown scale exceeding 15 million tons per year. The industry is experiencing a "shutdown wave" that shows a domino effect—from LyondellBasell selling its plant in the Netherlands to BASF's large-scale "downsizing" at its Ludwigshafen site, the European chemical industry landscape is undergoing the most dramatic restructuring in its history.

▶ExxonMobil (France): In April 2024, the company permanently shut down its 425,000 tons/year ethylene cracker and supporting production units in Gravenchon, France. This event became the trigger for a wave of chemical plant closures across Europe.

▶LyondellBasell (Netherlands): In March 2024, jointly with Covestro, will shut down the 315,000 tons/year propylene oxide plant and the 640,000 tons/year styrene plant at the Maasvlakte site in the Netherlands.

▶Dow (Germany/UK): In July 2024, announced two shutdown plans - the Schkopau chlor-alkali plant in Germany (chlorine production capacity of 250,000 tons/year, caustic soda production capacity of 275,000 tons/year) and the Barry siloxane plant in the UK (production capacity of 145,000 tons/year).

▶In July 2024, Westlake Chemical (Netherlands) will permanently shut down the allyl chloride and epichlorohydrin units at its Pernis plant in the Netherlands, with no plans to restart them.

(2) Projects to be shut down in 2025

▶INEOS (UK): In January 2025, the last synthetic ethanol plant in the UK will be closed.

▶Huntsman (Germany): In February 2025, after evaluation, it plans to close some polyurethane plants in the European region (specific plant list has not yet been announced).

▶Lanxess (Germany): Shut down the caprolactam plant at the Krefeld-Uerdingen site ahead of schedule in the second quarter of 2025.

▶SGL Carbon (Portugal): Production at the Lavradio plant (main products being acrylic fibers and carbon fiber precursors) will cease in June 2025, with plans for a complete shutdown of the entire plant by the end of 2026.

▶Styron (Germany): In June 2025, it was confirmed that the 160,000 tons/year polycarbonate plant in Stade, Germany will be permanently closed.

▶Westlake Chemical (Netherlands): In June 2025, the bisphenol A and liquid epoxy resin units at the Pernis plant in the Netherlands will be shut down, marking the complete cessation of operations at the plant.

▶Shell (Germany/Netherlands/UK): In July 2025, Shell will officially disclose three shutdown plans—the aromatics/olefins unit at the Rheinland site in Germany, the olefin derivatives unit in Moerdijk, Netherlands, and the Mossmorran cracker unit in the UK (planned to be phased out between 2026 and 2027).

▶In July 2025, INEOS (Germany/France/UK) plans to close the 650,000 tons/year phenol/acetone plant in Gladbeck, Germany; the 350,000 tons/year ethylene unit in Grangemouth, UK (scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026); and the 500,000 tons/year olefins unit in Lavera, France.

▶Celanese (Germany): Permanently close the Frankfurt Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) plant in July 2025.

▶Arkema (France): In July 2025, the chlorine, soda, and chloromethane production lines at the Jarrie plant in France will be closed.

▶BASF (Germany): In June-July 2025, the core facilities for adipic acid, caprolactam, and TDI (toluene diisocyanate) at the Ludwigshafen site will be shut down.

▶Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC): During the 2024-2025 period, the 575,000-ton/year cracker unit in Geleen, Netherlands, and the 865,000-ton/year ethylene unit in Teesside, UK, will be closed (the latter was shut down in 2020, with the decommissioning process to be officially completed in 2025).

▶TotalEnergies (Belgium): Plans to shut down the 550,000 tons per year ethylene cracker at the Antwerp complex in Belgium by 2027.

▶Dow (Germany): The shutdown of the ethylene cracker in Böhlen, Germany, and the chlor-alkali plant in Schkopau has been postponed to the fourth quarter of 2027.

In the challenging context of capacity pressure and high costs in the European chemical industry, global chemical giants have not adopted a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Instead, based on their own business matrix, asset profitability, and long-term strategic goals, they have developed differentiated and highly targeted "withdrawal strategies." The choice of each strategy is essentially a deep trade-off by the company between short-term cost control, medium-term profit protection, and long-term development planning. Among these, the "direct shutdown" strategy has become the core choice for some companies to divest inefficient assets. This type of strategy is mainly applied to production facilities that are technologically outdated, continuously loss-making, and have limited potential for renovation and upgrading.

Compared to the "radical" nature of direct shutdowns, the "asset disposal" strategy appears more moderate and flexible. Its core logic is to achieve risk transfer and capital recovery through asset transactions, especially suitable for capacities that still possess market value but do not align with the company's future strategic direction. In addition, some companies choose a compromise path of "strategic contraction and focus," by closing low-profit basic chemical bases in Europe and concentrating capacities and resources in the high-value-added specialty chemicals field, achieving a "small yet refined" transformational breakthrough.

As one of the core sectors of the global chemical industry, Europe's capacity adjustment is by no means a "local event" limited to a single region. From basic chemical raw materials to high-end specialty chemicals, European companies have long occupied key positions in the global industrial chain. This large-scale "withdrawal" will create a "chain reaction" impact on the global chemical supply chain. The concentrated exit of domestic capacity in Europe will disrupt the original supply-demand balance, driving the global price restructuring of key raw materials. It will also accelerate the cross-regional reorganization of global chemical capacities, prompting industry resources to concentrate in regions such as Asia and North America, where energy costs are lower, policy environments are more favorable, and market demand is stronger. Consequently, this will promote the upgrade of the global chemical industrial chain from "regional integration" to "global optimization."

For China's chemical industry, this represents both a strategic opportunity to undertake the global capacity transfer and acquire European advanced technology and market share, and a challenge to avoid "low-level capacity duplication" and address trade barriers such as the EU's "carbon tariffs." Domestic enterprises need to focus on developing green production technologies and innovating high-end products while undertaking the transfer to truly achieve the transformation "from scale expansion to quality enhancement" in the restructuring of the global chemical industry.